Whoomp, There Goes Your Car
Last week the St. Louis City Board of Alderman passed legislation designed to combat the nuisance of loud car stereo systems.
The trunk-rattling sounds of souped-up stereo systems may be [sic] thing of the past if the Board of Aldermen have anything to say about it.
The Board passed BB 81 today that not only prohibits the use of eardrum-blowing car systems, but also their installation. If an officer stops a vehicle equipped with speakers over 12″ or supercharged amplifiers, the owner may have his car impounded for four days and be slapped with a hefty fine; no less than $250.
Installers of such equipment may also be subject to fines if they are located in the city.
I live at the intersection of Rolling Boombox Avenue and Whoomp Whoomp Street, so I certainly understand the sentiment; however, this ordinance strikes me as a bit much.
The police have bigger fish to fry than teenaged noise polluters, and the law is so poorly drafted that it would apparently authorize confiscation of several new car models whose factory-installed sound systems technically violate its restrictions. The ordinance would also have required seizure of every rattling rust bucket I owned between ages 16 and 24.
Instructing police officers to aggressively enforce a maximum noise level standard is a better idea.
One Response to “Whoomp, There Goes Your Car”
As stated in the article, I think that it’s a horribly written law.. it makes things like the DMCA look verbose. The legislation states that any vehicle with a combined speaker wattage over 300 watts canbe confiscated without any other need, or if it has over 12 speakers. This becomes a problem, because many higher end luxury cars are coming with 12 or more speakers from the factory, and many more NOT luxury cars come with a built in amplifier. heck, most head units (The actual radio part of the whole deal) can usually do 75 Watts per channel, and 4 channels, this means (Gasp) 300 total Watts, and that’s WITHOUT an Amplifier (and since many to most cars will come with an amplifier, especially with a premium sound option installed). This now enables police officers to confiscate (not fine, not ticket, CONFISCATE) just about any car made after 1997 without any justification. it’s something that will allow them to basically say ‘oh, you’re mouthing off to me, eh?, well, then, you can pay for your car… AGAIN.’ (Note: mouthing off to cops, BAD IDEA.)
Now, this being said, I am all for people being fined for having their radios turned up too loud in the middle of the night. But I think the law should state that if the stereo system is over a certain Db level OUTSIDE the car, then I would say that yes, they need to be fined, or even have the car and/or stereo confiscated. However, when it comes to things like tinted windows, they don’t confiscate your car, and the whole reason for THAT law is because someone could kill a police officer because the officer can’t see into the window, and whether someone is carryng a firearm, or some other weapon. If found guilty of violation, you are required to remove the tinting, and or prove that the tinting is within a certain threshold, and then pay a fine. So apparantly, if it puts a police officer in danger, it’s fine worthy, but if it inconveniences a few alderman, then OBVIOUSLY you should lose your car. That makes PERFECT sense to me.
Music too loud? then the law should state that the stereo equipment (IE, the amps, and subwoofers, since they make the most noise) should be confiscated, and the driver fined for noise pollution, and disturbing the peace. however, I don’t believe that a whole car should be confiscated just because of the existence of some stereo equipment.. next thing you know, the police will be allowed to come into your house, and take your entire entertainment center without a warrant because you own a rack system with a 7.1 surround system, after all, this law is only one step from that.
My point, I guess, is that I agree with the REASONS a law needs to be put in place, but not the MEANS in which they did so. However, as previously stated, most cops will not have time to deal with people and their stereos, compared to more extreme problems.
But, as Larry Lessig once said: ‘If you have to explain it to people, then you are aleady losing the ‘war’.
Comment by refuge on January 31, 2006 at 9:29 pm.